Archives: Financial Issues

In Noble v Noble, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals clarifies the line between dissipation and acceptable financial conduct.

A recent court of appeals decision, which is recommended for publication, contains a startling analogy: it compares alcoholism to cancer and diabetes. The case might effectively overrule a previous court of appeals decision that is frequently cited for the proposition that maintenance payors do not need to be enablers for an alcoholic ex-spouse.

One grey area of family law was recently made black-and-white by a recent court of appeals decision. Another area, however, may have been made a shade grayer.

This is the second of two articles analyzing the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s highly important decision in Chen vs Warner. The first article discussed the holding of the court and the reasoning of the two dissenting opinions. This article analyzes the holding and discusses its possible implications.

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has issued its opinion in Chen v. Warner affirming the circuit court’s conclusion that a physician mother’s decision to quit her job after the divorce to stay home with the children, with which whom she had shared equal placement with the physician father, was not shirking.

In my March 30 column, I praised the Wisconsin District IV Court of Appeals for their opinion in Derr v. Derr. However, a lesser portion of the opinion might prove problematic.

This column has criticized appellate courts from time-to-time for inconsistency in their use of language. Recently, the District IV Court of Appeals used their opinion in Derr v. Derr to clear up years of confusion regarding non-divisible property. The result is a clear, consistent scheme which will undoubtedly serve as the lodestar for trial courts for many years to come.

Any confusion about Wisconsin law regarding credits for child support arrears might have (finally) been put to rest, thanks to a recent supreme court decision.

Per tradition, it is time to take a look back at the significant family law cases which were decided during the past year, with either plaudits for the well-reasoned decisions or – forgive me, judges – one last kick at those with which I take issue.

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin recently decided Kenyon v. Kenyon, 2004 WI 147, the first case since Rohde-Giovanni v. Baumgart, 2004 WI 27, 269 Wis. 2d 598, 676 N.W.2d 452 to consider the difficult issue of post-judgment maintenance.